“Dr. Charles Allen Thomas, former President and Chairman of the board of Monsanto worked closely with the late Walt Disney on the idea of visualization of the exhibit”. Just one more reason to have kept this attraction. At least fix the original facade (link).
The record itself is interesting. It’s a 7 inch record, but plays at 33 rpm’s instead of 45 rpm’s. Usually this is done to get a longer recording on each side, but at 2:34 this could have fit the 45 format no problem. Also, I guess “Monsanto” had its own recording label! Wonderland Music gets BMI publisher rights.
Time for some vintage Disneyland Audio. Boy does this remind me of the Carousel of Progress, no surprise there. The lyrics are below if you want to sing along.
Miracles from molecules around us every where,
there are miracles from molecules in the Earth, the sea, the air!
Now men with dreams are furthering what nature first began:
making modern miracles from molecules for man!
Every atom is a world, an infinity unfurled!
A world of innerspace without an end!
A world of mystery, of endless energy,
with treasures more than man can ever spend!
Miracles from molecules are dawning every day,
discoveries for happiness in a fab-u-lous array!
A never-ending search is on by men who dare and plan:
making modern miracles from molecules for ma-a-an,
making modern miracles from molecules for man!
p.s. I know this song made you smile...
7 comments:
Those WONDERFUL Sherman Brothers! I wonder why this song was eliminated from the exit area in later years?
I have so many fond memories of Adventure Thru Inner Space; it's very possible that today's audiences would be bored by it, but I loved the trippy, abstract quality that the attraction had!
What a great little record. What's on the back side, or is it blank?
I actually just wrote this comment over at Gorillaz about Santa-Fe sponsorship. As a coincidence, it fits here so in the spirit of laziness, I will just cut and paste here:
I'm sorry when long-standing sponsors withdraw from an attraction. Companies don't feel they are getting enough advertising "bang for the buck", but their perceptions were skewed. I know as a kid the ONLY reason I ever heard of Monsanto or Alweg was because of their connection with the Park.
Ditto with the fond memories of this attraction, ATIS and America Sings were my childhood favorites.
Katella; side 2 is an instrumental of the same song. I only knew Monsanto & Alweg from Disneyland too, I wonder what it cost back then for Monsanto to be a sponsor? Did they pay annually? You'd think there would be a line of current companies that want to sponsor an attraction at DL, you can't beat that exposure.
The subject of advertisers backing attractions is an interesting one, and one I find it's hard to get "real facts" on because it's all business agreements... private and not very exciting stuff for the average Disneyite.
My guess is the sponsorship agreement varied with the depth of participation. Monsanto probably had a long contract because it was "their" attraction, whereas Sunkist was probably a short, inexpensive commitment because it was basically a sign over a store.
I've noticed/heard that as DisneyCorp has grown, the corporation has pushed out a lot of the original sponsors and taken over the venue. (And gotten a stinky rep because of it and public squabbles like over Star Wars).
So from a sponsor's point of view, it may not just come down to cost, there may be a lot of Eisner Inspired Agony that's not worth dealing with.
... Better to spend $25 mil on a nation-wide advertising campaign that you own and control than $5 on a tightly focused exposure framed by a lot of Angst.
Daveland is in marketing... I wonder what his thoughts are.
Living in southern California all my and growing up around Disneyland, I have really enjoyed your blog. Yes my family has been going to Disneyland since the park opened in 1955 and I am happy to say my father still works at Disneyland. We talk about these wonderful posts all the time. Keep up the good work and thank you once again. Yes the Miracles from molecules song did make me smile.
Time for an Audio/Visual Disneyland Souveni ?
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